Rachelle Greenburg, German Vampire Slayer
by Beginings And Endings
Summary: A slayer in the aftermath of WW2, from her intro to her end


The Buffy the Vampire Slayer series is the property of Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt. I just thought the show could use some improved stories.

The story and/or stories here are of some of the other vampire slayers, mostly before Buffy and mostly just the start and end of their slaying. I tried to give them real feel. Enjoy.

Germany, 1945: Rachelle Greenburger

She felt something was wrong. This was a danger zone for anyone who wanted to live, especially if they were Jewish as she was. It wasn't just the soldiers in Hitler's regime, with his war machine of quick striking nazis and thunderous nights of living nightmares, memories for any survivor. Most of all of that was past now here, most of the worst nights of not knowing where you were going to be the next morning, even though there were still several soldiers around to guard and check out places that swingers and partiers that were otherwise supposed to be locked up.

Now the worst threat was from those soldiers that had fallen. A story she herself had witnessed was that they didn't stay dead. A uniform wearing, almost human looking, dead man rose up from the ground to arrest a drunk man stumbling from a swing club. The two stopped in a dark alley with only a couple of feet between buildings and, as soon as the armed guard had the drunk against and facing the wall his face changed and his mouth went right to the strangers neck. The newly risen thing held the other around the chest until his body looked like it was completely limp. Rachelle was positive that from her distance and being safely hidden behind a tree the blood drinker couldn't see her. From cemeteries and sometimes the middle of streets swastika wearing soldiers that were left behind and left for dead were said to rise up and bite the necks of those that would still oppose them. Rumor had it that these were the "super soldiers" that Hitler was always talking about.

That night she went home and said her prayers that her mother and father that were taken would be safe and, being only 16 in the middle of a war torn country, she prayed for God to keep her safe from these monsters and all their forms. Lastly she asked "God please send me an angel or some kind of defender with which I might be kept safe and well defended" before she layed down to sleep.

The next day she was startled to find a swastika uniform wearing soldier standing at the door to her room. Surely she was done for by now. Maybe God had sent someone to end her misery all at once. "Are you miss Greenburger" he asked. She had to think before answering for any of these kinds could hold her a prisoner of this place as her name itself held her descent. Yet he gave her a smile, and not one that showed a hint of malice but rather a little charm. Still spies, killers, and thieves wore less obvious garb. "I can tell you where she is if you tell me who you are and what she might be wanted for" Rachelle inquired knowing that if this man were what he appeared all he'd have to do here is tell her to keep her smart mouth to herself or, worse though possibly better than her previous fears, kill her. She eyed him up and down.

"You don't talk much do you? Oh, you're worried about my uniform. Christ, I must give you a fright. Let me ask you have you ever heard of the watchers counsel?" the soldier asked. When the teenager shook her head he continued. "Well, why should you have in such a despairing place as this", he looked around seeming let than approving of her present environment, "I'm here to give you a fighting chance of surviving this rather literal hell hole. My name is Hershozen and I'm your watcher. I received word almost a week ago that you were somewhere in this town, or what's left of it, and had to find you". He stopped, but only to get her reactions she knew.

Was this a trick? Did he want her as his house made and secret mate as some had said the Germans did every so often? Or was he maybe waiting for his damn soldier friends. That last one didn't make a lot since as she was only one scared little girl, but then those kinds of people never need a motive for the past few years'. Finally she chanced a question, "why are you wearing that if you're not here to kill me". "Oh, right. Sorry. See, I'm a former German who's dad was a nazi killed 4 years ago in battle, not far from here by car, while I was in the watchers academy. He was one of these high enough in the ranks that when he died and his body was identified his family we was allowed to keep all of his belongings, except of course the uniform he died in. Miss, make no mistake, I don't like the overly proud men anymore than you do really, but I was the only one of us who could slide in unnoticed among the adversary and find you to train you for a much more dangerous battle" again he stopped to let her take in his words.

Could this after all be the good angel the lord had brought her. As he took his hat off and stripped out of his uniform coat and shirt she could see the truth to his words. Besides for a German he was relaxing and quite charming.

Next he got down in front of her on one knee and put his face only a foot away from hers as if the next words could help her and change her life forever. "You, dear Rachelle, are going to slay those things you saw last night. You are the next vampire slayer" and with that all of the scared little girls prayers came true.

For a few seconds he awaited her reaction, then took her by the hand and led her out of her home and to his truck for the long ride into the country where the war hadn't quite touched yet. "You seem more comfortable. Now listen, if any SS troopers stop you and I'm around I'll try to protect you. The last thing we need in the middle of a war like this is for you to be caught or the demons to be exposed. The Motherland would never be the same if The Fur her knew about and could control vampires or any otherworldly demons", he talked about this subject as if he were a professor on it, and yet this stranger said it all like he had been nervous but now had nothing to worry about, "and I promise you it won't be hard to tell one from any others or living people from undead ones. With that being the case, under Watchers Counsel orders' in our present situation, you are allowed to kill any SS people that you need to in order to get your job done. You're also allowed to knockout anyone else".

My God, how was she ever going to be able to do that. Most of her day was spent almost too scared to think. Sometimes strategizing where to go, how to get food, or how to avoid being caught, but never did she think she might be able to kill someone. This must be a mistake. "Excuse me, sir, but are you quite sure you have the right person" Rachelle inquired. "Well, that depends. The Counsel through research came up with 2 young girls and a young lady with your same name, so let me ask you few questions. How old are you?" Hershosen gave an open look of curiosity. Even here in a world flipped upside down she knew no one would dare ask a woman that unless it were important. "16 years old" she replied after a few studious seconds. "Have you ever or do you really reside north of where you were about 10 kilometers" with the same look. "My cousin does, but she's only 8" Rachelle shook her head. "Yes, well, the only other lady with the same name is nearly twice your age living in America" he explained. She swore he was so easygoing it was unnerving. There was no way he could give her anything more than mere hope, and she'd had enough false hope and lies to last her a lifetime. "Okay, so you tracked down my name, and probably my picture and maybe even my birth record," she began. "Actually that last thing wasn't easy to come by. It took 3 guys to find it and only one made it back to headquarters in England, granted he had a broken lag and a wound where he'd been shot all cussing up a storm" he laughed trying to relieve her tension.

"So, as I was saying, you've found me, but how do you know that I'm the one you've been searching or waiting for" she begged to know. "Ah, the proof that you're a slayer. That's in your soul. Do you ever feel like you were born with excess energy, like you could jog for a day and a half and never burn yourself out? How about your senses? Do you feel constantly alert, always aware of your surroundings? Maybe like an extra skin and yet at the same time like a layer of your skin has been shaved off" very intensely this SS uniformed stranger looked into her eyes'. Yes, she admitted to herself. She had these abilities that she used everyday just to run and hide, but didn't all people. Or, at least, all girls. She slowly nodded as she felt that whether she wanted this or not Rachelle was already out of options. "Most importantly, have you ever been sick? And lastly do you have dreams where you feel like you're someone else, watching through their eyes' and living their lives as whatever seemingly inhuman creature is before them is slain. Kind of like within them you could do anything" he was spilling the contents even her parents while living never knew. Again she nodded.

"I was sick once when I was 12. A hideous thing of some kind with bullhorns on it's head and dark blue skin was shot down in front of me by a woman with a chain gun in the bed of her truck. I was in an alley across the street an some of it's blood got sprayed on me. The next day I was sick and it lasted a month. The whole time I layed in bed running a high fever with delirium, a massive migraine that felt like lightning, and tingly, limp arms that couldn't hold a spoon" She explained.

"That was a Devils Child demon. Originally they were called Blackout Demons by the Saxons as they have the ability to cause temporary amnesia or narcotize, or even completely put a victim in a state of narcosis, put them to sleep if you will, by simply looking into your eyes' or spitting upon you. See, the gaze one of them has can make you for get everything about yourself for a couple of days, or as long as a week, but the fluids of one are said to absorb osmotically and induce month long comas often ending in death. That the counsel is aware of only a handful of people in the last 5 centuries have absorbed Devils Child blood which is a poison not from this world. 4 were normal people who died after a weeks coma, the last was another slayer who's body fought the poison for 2 months before finally giving out" he looked at her with a smile.

"Hershosen, has anyone ever told you that you talk too much. If I'm going to learn to face my fears, let alone these demons, I won't necessarily want the textbook on them. Maybe later, but right now I want to learn how to fight, okay?" she nicely asked him and he got the point.

"You want me to say 'okay', right? Sorry, but I'm here to train you in everything I possibly can. I was just trying to be nice and build you up. No one in history has ever had the blood of such a deadly demon sprayed on them and lived to tell about it, no one. And if you're going to be this rude and up front let me get a few things out of the way right now. Presently we're still standing on what's called a Hellmouth, or a hotspot for demon activity, and that's probably part of the reason why this place is so strange and out of control compared to the rest of the world" the soldier dressed man stopped the truck in front of what now appeared to be a mansion compared to the crumbled buildings in the old city they had left and looked right at the teenager.

"It comes down to this, you've got 2 choices'. You can either stay here with me and learn about the mistakes and successes of those before you, call it a history lesson they don't teach in any public school in the world with specialized combat training, and learn about why you're so different from other girls', or you can be taken by me to be executed like your parents were in front of a firing squad for target practice which beats' the idea of tutoring yourself to survive until this war is over. I won't let you try to survive by yourself around here because death would put you out of your misery and make way for the next slayer to come into her own. Everything would be so much quicker and painless. I am still the son of a German SS soldier whether he's dead or not to Hitler. Besides if I let you go I would have failed what I've been training my whole life to do. I'm giving you a chance. Who knows, maybe you'll do us all some good and kill enough of both demons and enemy soldiers until neither one wants to visit this land again" his look had changed from seriousness to hatred, and back to that charming smile of his all in a short time.

Rachelle was beginning to grasp exactly how honest and serious he was and the gravity of the situation. She looked out of the window on her side. This young girl hadn't survived the war machine, hiding, and nearly being sniped in just her hometown to die now. Even if she didn't need to know everything right now it couldn't hurt her living longer by taking on some combat training and a little history, most especially if that history included ways to eliminate her threats from the nazis'. "Well…." he was waiting. He didn't want to be tough, she could see that much already, but she was smart and he was clearly authorized to use extreme punishments, uniform or not. Besides who would tell him he was wrong here, and what if he was right.

After an eternal 5 minutes she replied reluctantly "okay, give me what you've got" and slowly smiled.

(Possible New Chapter Here)

They entered the giant house and the new guardian of sorts showed her around. "It's 3 stories tall and been in my fathers family for years'. Some generations back when my great grandfather got called to be the first watcher in my family this place was made into branch of the Counsel and thus for work and charity has since been half their domain and half family inheritance.

The basement as you'll see is for training and practice exercises with mats of all kinds and every tool and dummy you'll have to fight on a routine basis" he led her downstairs and let her look for herself. Rachelle found this gym amazing and large as the entire basement was covered with mats and objects. In the back of the room, against a wall, there was even a glass case with swords, guns, spears, and so on. "This place is incredible. Are you going to teach me to use all of this stuff" she asked and he nodded.

Next, on the first floor, was the usual household set up. A kitchen, bathroom, dining room, and a living room. Hershosen explained this as the only level left unchanged.

Upstairs, from the top of the stairs, the girl found four doors and so far nothing strange about any of them. The first one her host showed her was his room. Strangely it was not covered in swastikas' but rather crucifixes and a number of candles. "I thought you said your father was a nazi? I don't see anything that would signify that kind of raw brutality and hate" she commented. "My dad wasn't a violent man he just lived in hateful times and in a war were you can't choose your own side he was luckily chosen for having been a former politician here. Of course it was because of our close ties to the Counsel that he was able to get the first position . Some would've thought that he'd sold his son to them to get his position, but as I got to watch and wanted to go get a better education the timing of the two happening at almost the same time was just a happy coincidence" he went on reminiscing.

Rachelle glanced at the closet and found the only signs of the politician turned soldier she was likely to find while she was here, a closet full of mostly regime uniforms.

When they left that room the two went to her bedroom. She was astonished at the beauty of pink walls, redwood dresser and closet doors, and the view of the outside. When she opened the closet however she found cloths left over from a farm girl who'd apparently forgotten to clean herself off first.

In the end unimpressed with the first bedrooms the soon to be slayer started to open the next door when Hershosen grabbed her arm. "Sorry, but that room is off limits to anyone except for me at this point" to which she gave him a hurt look. "There are only a couple of things in there and one of those we must hope will not be used for a long time. I can't tell you now, but it's inevitable end of the world as we know it kind of stuff that was found here and has to do with the Hellmouth. I have strict orders from the counsel to use this room only with their permission and to try to train you to where we can hold off our own problems here as long as possible. Remember, sometimes the watcher lives a long and full life, but a slayer doesn't. If we were chosen to be only one person to watch over the slayers there would still be more than 10 of you before another one of us would have to come around, So we must make you last twice the average at least" as he explained her hopes were dampened.

It was obvious to her that no matter what her mission in life this young girl was destined to die young and not by her own choice either. Her highest hope all this time had been that her lord send her a way to make it through this Godforsaken war, maybe have her own children, and live to be a wrinkled old 50 year old which seemed to be the maximum life expectancy of a Jew in this land.

Ahead of her Hershosen opened the last door. "And this is the study. Of course most of these books were founded by or through the counsel and made to keep the both of us alive. Almost any demon that we come across should be listed in these. Take a look" He led her through. Oh my, Rachelle thought, she'd never seen so many books in her life. In fact, to keep people from reading they had book burnings all the time in the city. She herself liked to read but hadn't had much of a chance without much more than a secondary education. Those crazy ceremonies were supposed to be either because the people around here didn't like books or because they didn't want the "criminals" getting any smarter, so far as the rumor went, but neither seemed to be an intelligent reason since on the one hand they make you smarter. On the other hand most of those who knew what they were doing these days' were clever enough to be well hidden.

She took a book off a shelf and opened it to find a picture of something with hooves and fangs resembling a bald wrestler. It looked human, but she was guessing it wasn't as the writing on the page next to it wasn't familiar to her. Was it Latin maybe. Her new guardian walked to her and saw what she was looking at. "It's Mephistos. He's said to be an invincible vampire of some sort. I can't remember how his hands' and feet were formed right now, but let us hope we never have to meet him" as he was talking she went over to another shelf and found a book with a spine she could read.

"S.S.: The Original Schutzstaffel!" she read out loud and took it off the shelf as well. They place both books on the table in the middle of the room. "Well, this room has got your attention, doesn't it?" he smiled, a kind of joke for her look of horror bordering on terror. "They were said to actually be guardsmen to the evil Master Panis who would bring about Magnus Chaotica, or Great Chaos. Panis is thought to be possessing Hitler as we speak and I have very little doubt about it

"So what happened to the other girl I saw in Berlin?" Rachelle asked. "She was the last vampire slayer before you. Her name was Wonda and it turned out that it was an accident what happened. There were stories that too many people had seen what happened and that someone had gotten the blood splattered on her, but no one knew for sure. I'm sorry but no one could have known that it was you or what you'd become. apparently you recovered okay enough" when he tried to make his apology she looked at him a little sourly like she was waiting and unimpressed. "She was special as all vampire slayers are, but only in that way as she was reckless. Those particular demons were among her hardest, but that doesn't mean the restwere easy. Some thought that she got crazy with just the killing itself. Sometimes even I thought so, but she was good at it. She was nearly on top of the Hellmouth when she was taken out by a sidicious mastermind demon named General Kain who claimed to an immortal decendant of the original Biblical Kain and a big force ineliminating the Aztecs from Mexico. He was a giant compared to most men, even today, but he was also a summoned being.After getting rid of my slayer and organizinga destructive force of demons that tore down partsof the town and thecountryside by night, they were gone. Vanished into thin air" he gave her the summary and tried to give her hope. No everything was bad about the job, if close to impossibly hard.

"Wonda had been a vampire hunter since she was a girl of barely 15, around 1941. I had trained her after her first watcher died, right after all that had happened actually. I was given little knowledge about that or anything else about her history as a slayer. They like us to start freshfrom the counsel. She was tough, quick, dangerous because of her fear, and a little stubborn, the last two qualities had gotten her and her watcher killed. I can let you read her watchers reports and records to let you learn from it. She never left this area anyway so it should help. Wonda had hunted nearly a dozen different kinds of demons here and, as with any other slayer, countless vampires. Look, I'll tell you more about anyone else you want to know very soon as part of your training, but for now help me to get started" and they went to work on making the library they were in cleaner and, later,to work within thea gym.

(last chapter)

All of the demons and vampires in the region were following her. Rachelle had to run as fast as she could and out think any that might be alerted to her presence before she reached the mansion.

It appeared it was time that all of her training for the past 5 years had run out on her and that one dreadful day she never wanted to see come true would. Her watcher had gotten permission from the counsel to use the Deaths Head of Blue Mana, A bomb created long ago from the Blue Mana dimension. It was the bomb in the room that would kill deomns instantly, making this town almost die of it. It would look just like a wartorn, dead ghost town with the population dwindling as it was. There weren't many left, and there was the possibility that some demon could find his way back. It wasa suicide bomb and one that had to be broken to work.The way things were looking there would be little choice

On a radio she called to Hershozen. "I'm coming in fast and I'm bringing the whole town with me" she talked to the radio in pants. "What did you do, walk into a trap" he responded in question. "No, half of them were waiting for me at one of my patrolling checkpoints. When I ran they all followed, some asking if I was ready to take on all of them" the slayer explained. "In that case run up the stairs of the house ans meet up with me.I want as many of them drawn here as can be found, making less for anyone else to worry about" her watcher said. "I don't think that will be a problem, but I may run out of energy before I make it. I got into a big fight on patrol before I got there and already I'm sweaty and winded" Rachelle explained her worries to her boss. "Just make it here".

Into the house she ran a long and desparate while later with some of the faster demons of various kinds catching and nearly grabbing her. The slayer took the stairs 2 at a time. "Hershozen", she called at the top of the stairs. "Are they all here" he asked and she nodded. He handed her the skull and the instant she broke it over the railing a bright light flashed and all of those trying to get into the house, along with those that were already in disappeared.


End file.
